|
Trestle at downtown
end South Bay Trail. Trail begins from alley between State and
Railroad just south of Rose St.
Bellingham has
voted to tax itself to acquire old railroad right of ways and so
forth.
It is developing a system of bikeways and green belts through the town
connecting parks, neighborhoods and points of interest. The trails are
called green ways. Recently Bellingham was designated a Trail Town USA
by some national organizations in honor of its efforts to preserve the
green ways.
 Burlington Wall in 2001. See more photos below. In spring of the year 2001, Burlington Northern & Santa Fe railroad placed barriers where the South Bay Trail crossed railroad property. The trail officially ended at tracks, but people did the obvious and continued into Boulevard Park. After the barriers went up, folks went around anyway calling them "The Burlington Wall." At one point, the mayor of Bellingham lead a group of pedestrians across the tracks, near this point where the city has an easement. This demonstrated need for a crossing. Finally, the railroad and city worked out a crossing plan. With high speed trains; especially Amtrak; railroad officials worry about safety of crossings. They try to minimize the number of crossing points, but many streets, with cars, cross the tracks. Maybe some of the street crossings can be eliminated, but pedestrians should rate at least as high as automobiles. This popular crossing is as important as many of the street crossings even though there are no cars. Photo of "Burlington Wall"
that has now been replaced with a pedestrian/bike crossing. Route goes through Boulevard Park. Then one can use the sometimes crowded boardwalk or the access road from the park. Both lead to 10th street which heads south to another trail segment and into Fairhaven District.  Along tenth.  Trail resumes
toward Fairhaven. Then one uses streets through Fairhaven
District.
 Trail resumes at Tenth and Donovan.  Under Chuckanut Drive to Interurban Trail.  Along Padden Creek. Interurban Trail is south of Fairhaven area. |
